Clinic - Public Interest/Public Service Fellowship

The PipS Fellowship is an externship course in which students work full-time at a partner office or agency throughout their 3L year, in anticipation of full-time employment as a Fellow post-graduation for one year. Students might work at: NY Legal Assistance Group, the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, Youth Represent, Public Health Solutions, the Community Service Society, Safe Horizons, the ASPCA, the NYC Law Department, the NY Transit Authority or the NY County District Attorney, among others.

Students are selected for this Fellowship through an application process in their 2L year.

Seminar Credits 2:

The mandatory 4 credit seminar for the PipS Fellowship meets twice a week each semester. In this seminar 3L Fellows will satisfy the Professional Responsibility requirement in the context of lawyers in practice while studying aspects of the legal profession, lawyering skills, and particular issues that arise in their placements.

Grading:

The seminar is letter grade only and the fieldwork is pass-Fail only.

Clinic - Safe Harbor

Recommended: Forced Migration or Immigration and Nationality Law

Students work in teams to represent individuals in a range of cases affecting their status and entitlements in the United States. Many cases involve applications for asylum, and some involve the immigration status of lawful permanent residents or victims of domestic violence. In most cases students appear either in Immigration Court or before other administrative hearing officers.

Students conduct factual investigations concerning their client's history in their native land and their time in the United States. They also conduct in-depth research into the historical, cultural, and political backgrounds of the countries of origin of their clients. Students interview and counsel clients, prepare all of the applications or petitions required by the administrative process of the USCIS, present the claim before an asylum officer or immigration judge, administrative appeals, and, when necessary, seek judicial review in federal court.

Seminar Credits: 2.00

Seminar: The clinic includes a 2-credit seminar in which students are taught specific substantive and procedural law, as well as the lawyering skills related to advocacy on behalf of immigrants, and discuss the difficult ethical issues that often arise in these cases.

Enrollment Notes: Students generally enroll for one semester only, but may be permitted to enroll for a second semester depending on the needs of the clients and their cases.

Criminal Law

This course consists of an introduction to the criminal process and the role of the Constitution in reconciling the authority of government with the rights of the individual. The primary focus of the course is, however, on the substantive aspects of the criminal law. The role of the criminal law as the principal means of social control is explored, as well as the limitations on legislative power to define and punish criminal behavior. Cases and statutes are studied to develop a critical understanding of the fundamental concepts of criminal responsibility. The course includes the study of some specific crimes such as homicide and conspiracy, as well as the general principles of jurisdiction, accessorial liability, justification and the impact of mental disease, intoxication and mistake on criminal responsibility.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade only. Final exam.

Criminal Procedure II

Prerequisites: Criminal Law and Constitutional Law

This course examines the manner in which a criminal proceeding is initiated and the conduct of a criminal case in court. Topics covered include right to counsel, arraignment and preliminary hearings, commitment or release on bail or recognizance, the grand jury, discovery and disclosure, plea bargaining, defendant's right to a speedy trial, jury selection, joinder and double jeopardy. Particular attention is given to the role and ethical obligations of prosecutors and defense counsel.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade with pass/fail option. Final exam.

Federal Criminal Law

Prerequisite: Criminal Law

Federal criminal law is the creature of both Congress and the federal judiciary. Certain conduct is punishable under federal law either exclusively or in addition to state statutes. Modern federal statutes have moved beyond the protection of direct federal interests and have provided new levels of federal involvement in the definition and prosecution of criminal activities. This course examines substantive federal criminal legislation as well as certain procedural topics that frequently arise in the prosecution and defense of such crimes. After an overview of the bases of federal jurisdiction, the balance of the course will focus on both historical and modern criminal statutes such as mail fraud, racketeering, enterprise criminality, and selected regulatory offenses. The course also will inquire into some of the issues that arise in the investigation of such crime including grand jury subpoenas and privileges. The curriculum will conclude with an examination of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. Consideration of the roles of the prosecutor and of the defense attorney will permeate the semester. During the semester, students will be required to participate in some role plays and to attend some courtroom proceedings.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade with pass/fail option. Final exam.

Immigration and Nationality Law

This course studies immigration, nationality and naturalization laws of the United States. Among the topics discussed are: the immigrant selection system, the issuance of nonimmigrant and immigrant visas, grounds of excludability of aliens and of waiver of excludability, grounds for deportation of aliens and for relief from deportation, change of status within the United States, administrative procedures, administrative appeals, judicial review, nationality by birth and by naturalization, revocation, naturalization, and expatriation.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade only. Final exam.

Immigration Law: Advanced Topics

Prerequisites: Immigration Law or permission of the instructor. This course is open to students who have either already taken Immigration & Nationality Law, or who have significant experience and familiarity with immigration practice and have obtained the permission of the instructor

This course builds on and augments the basic course in Immigration & Nationality Law. Topics will include "crimmigration," the growing field at the intersection of criminal and immigration law, immigrants' rights (the civil rights of non-US citizens), and immigration reform efforts, among others.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade with pass/fail option. There will be a writing requirement that can fulfill the UCWR in the form of either a substantial paper or appellate brief. The classes will be both discussion-based and performance-based. .

International Criminal Law

Prerequisite: Criminal Law

The increasing globalization of crime and of anti-crime efforts have led to the emergence of the new field of International Criminal Law. This course will focus on the legal principles that have emerged at the intersection of the traditional notions of international law and criminal law and will analyze the developing international standards, cooperation, and enforcement mechanisms aimed at preventing and prosecuting certain types of criminal activity. This course will examine the substantive crimes that have evolved in the field of international law and will emphasize the interpretation and application of international standards in the context of criminal prosecution. In addition, this course will analyze the application of national law to crime that occurs in more than one nation. The course will focus both on substantive crimes and on enforcement mechanisms. Specific topics will include sources of international criminal law; U.S. jurisdiction over crimes committed abroad; individual substantive crimes such as drug smuggling, computer crime, and money laundering; international offenses such as piracy, hijacking, torture, terrorism and genocide; extradition, evidence gathering abroad, and other procedural matters; defenses available under international law; and international criminal tribunals.

Materials for the course will include cases, treaties, international statutes, as well as literature and film. Students will be expected to participate in class actively in role plays and in discussions of problems. There may be occasional guest speakers from organizations and agencies with different perspectives on the subject matter.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade with pass/fail option. Final exam and several short written assignments.

Law and Literature Seminar

This seminar uses literature, commentary on literature, and legal writings to consider the ways in which law and literature intersect. The assigned materials deal with such issues whether law and morality are identical, whether justice is achieved in the legal system, how lawyers can achieve persuasiveness and even eloquence by using the techniques of great writers, and what relation exists between stories and legal arguments and theories.

Grading and Method of Evaluation

Letter grade only. All students will write a paper in the course and make a half hour presentation to the class based on the subject of their paper. There is no exam.